Thanks to Google, writers' lives may be even more thankless, unless....

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Google/Authors Guild Settlement

The most disturbing feature of the Settlement is that Google scanned a large number of copyrighted works without the permission of the owners. The Settlement does not resolve this issue, but merely delineates a complicated ongoing business agreement between the copyright owners and Google. This agreement is stated to apply to not only every copyright owner in the US, but every copyright owner in every country that signed the Berne agreement. The copyright owners are legally forced to accept the terms of the Settlement unless they explicitly opt out of it. Yet the vast majority had no hand in crafting it, and many will not hear about it before the May 2009 opt-out deadline.

Other disturbing aspects are that Google claims the right to not only sell out-of-print books in their entirety, but that Google, not the publisher or author, determines in-print status.

There is a good financial analysis of the benefits (or lack thereof) to authors on this website:

http://www.authorlink.com/news/item/1880/google%20settlement%20aap%20authors%20guild

Posted by: FrancesGrimble   Posted on: 11/15/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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